Bus Hits Man… He Grabs a Pint of Beer in True English Fashion

After being struck dead-on by an out-of-control bus Saturday in the English town of Reading, a real-life Superman of a man casually sprung back up onto his feet and walked into the nearby Purple Turtle pub like a champ.

“It’s quite funny everybody think I have gone for a pint,” victim-turned-champion Simon Smith, 53, later remarked to the U.K. Metro. “I was actually looking for a place of refuge when I went into the doorway of the pub.”

Mind you, he did reportedly get a beer after later being discharged from a local hospital.

Dovetailing back to what happened to Smith over the weekend, it’s a miracle he wasn’t hurt.

“It looks like the bus has gone out of control — it’s almost gone into turbo, it’s just suddenly sped up, doubled its speed if not more,” Purple Turtle co-owner Daniel Fraifeld later reportedly told reporters for the BBC’s “South Today” news program, as noted by the U.K. Daily Mail.

“Absolutely shocking,” he added. “‘I just can’t believe that Simon got up, dusted himself up and walked away from it. It’s a miracle that he’s alive.”

Watch surveillance footage from the scene below (WARNING: Some people may find this footage distressing):

“I came down the street, it was early morning, I’d gone to pay in a wage cheque at my bank,” Smith told the Metro of that eventful day. “I make that journey every Saturday. I didn’t think anything of it. But then I heard some banging behind me and I was hit from behind.”

What’s disturbing is that neither the police nor the paramedics believed him at first.

“Originally they were all in agreement because if I had been hit by the bus, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “I said ‘I’m sure the bus hit me,’ and they kept saying, ‘No you were hit by debris.’”

But after they saw the surveillance footage, their attitude quickly changed: “An officer then saw the CCTV at the pub and came back and said, ‘I’m really sorry, you were right.’”

And fortunate. Very, very fortunate.

Of course, he’s also the perfect role model for a nation going through tough times both socially and politically. Cheers to both him and his great country.